Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Crack Between Night and Day

about 9 x12 pastel and acrylic and watercolor on marble dust board/ no price yet

I was reading this beautiful illustrated children's book called Twilight comes Twice. The full quote is "Twice each day a crack opens between night and day. Twice twilight slips through that crack."
I love that quote. It opens a whole new world inside of my head. So this painting captures the very beginning of twilight, that first glow when there is still light. I think I will make more of these at different graduating moments.
How do you make that glow when the light slips through the crack?
I am struggling right now to create that illusive vibration, the glow. To do it I used three or more colors of the same value. Meanwhile I tried to keep color harmony throughout the whole piece. AAARGH! It's a studio piece. That's the time when I fuss and perseverate on one thing.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! My absolute favourite time of day ... morning twilight.

Brent Seevers said...

It's very inspiring.

Karen said...

To me the fantastic glow in the water comes because of the colors that surround it...the bank to the right and the dark water to the left.

Could you use that idea of altering the colors around the glowing area, for example, making the lightest, brightest part of a red rose look glowing red by dulling the other reds around it?

loriann signori said...

Thanks Leah...Morning twilight is my favorite time as well. Come here and share it with me sometime.:-] Loriann

loriann signori said...

Thanks Brent!

loriann signori said...

Karen, I will look at the painting closely and think about your suggestion. Thanks! I'll let you know.
Loriann

Leslie Saeta said...

Loriann,
I found your blog through Marian's. Lovely paintings. I have never tried pastels (I use only a palette knife) and I can't imagine how you can paint these so beautifully. You are an inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
Leslie

Anonymous said...

I've revisited this painting several times today and something's been bothering me. Why are those people stranded in the middle of the Potomac at that time of day?

loriann signori said...

Thanks Leslie!
Pastels are my passion.
Your palette knife paintings are quite beautiful. Thanks for dropping by.

loriann signori said...

Leah,Paul said the same thing about the people. In reality they were standing on a rock surrounded by ice. It's funny I didn't question that particular part at all. Goes to show you how we all see different things.
Loriann

Nita Van Zandt said...

I love the glow of the sky reflected on the water. Very successful!

Being surrounded by ice myself right now in NH, I saw the white as ice behind the people. But perhaps the texture of it is a bit watery. Ice tends either to be very flat or blocky, if that flat ice is churned or moved into chunks.

I speak only as an ice observer, not a painter!

loriann signori said...

Very observant Nita. Yes, it is mixed. There is snow and chunked ice behind the people and a mix of solid, thin ice and liquid in front of them. A tiny peninsulette (new word I made up) leads them out to the rock. On Sunday I was there walking with my niece we had a blast chopping and breaking the thin ice pieces. Some rare pieces were thick. I am not quite sure why it is so much fun to crack/chop ice????
I bet you have a lot of ice to look at in NH. Do you paint it?
Loriann

Nita Van Zandt said...

Ah, no, I'm more of a sketcher, a line and wash type of thing. But chopping ice, like getting my frozen-down trash bin out, or chopping a path to the mailbox--that I know!

We lived in College Park, Md, in the mid-70s. Ah, to live in the south again :-)